“[In response to the Love3 assignment to create a conversation], I engaged in a conversation with my husband. I was surprised to hear that he is pro-life but only in certain situations. I kept asking questions to gather information, although I was struggling and wanting to challenge his position. I realized that I need to work on asking questions without the intent to engage, and I also need to work on listening.
“My husband said that he is pro-life, except in the circumstances of rape or chromosomal /health abnormalities in the child.
“I asked him further questions like, ‘Even in those circumstances, are you okay with an abortion in the seventh month?’ Although he said yes, I could see he was unsure of his stance.
“We concluded that he is pro-life except in the circumstances of rape or medical abnormality, and he believes abortions should only be legal in those circumstances...and it should be allowed at any point in the pregnancy, no matter how far along the pregnancy was.
“Afterwards, I asked him about his thoughts on how the conversation went. He said that he was ready to engage in an argument, but that because I kept asking questions, he didn’t feel the need to engage in an argument. He also said that my questions actually made him start to question some of his views and made him think that he might not be right in having certain views.
“I was absolutely shocked about his views, but even more so by his assessment of our conversation, and how he actually started to question his stance by the end of our conversation.”
(Note: This post was featured in JFA’s February 2021 newsletter.)